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Centennial College
CODA ELECTRICAL
Course: ECME-124 Electronics 2
Name (Please Print): Tushar Jindal
Student Number: 301489646
Date:_June 11th 2025
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Lab # 7
SCR PHASE CONTROL
This experiment demonstrates how an SCR is used in half-wave power control by
varying the power dissipated in a resistive load (incandescent lamp). This power control
can be achieved by varying an SCR’s conduction angle between 0° and approximately
180°.
SCRs use this control technique to control AC power in lamp dimmers, electric heaters
and variable-speed control of electric motors.
A phase shift permits the full control of the SCR firing angle. To shift the voltage applied
to the anode and the gate, a capacitor and potentiometer are used in the circuit. The
potentiometer is used to control the amount of phase shifting.
When R potentiometer is zero, the gate voltage is in phase with the line voltage, and
the SCR acts like a half-wave rectifier. When R potentiometer increases, the gate
voltage lags the line voltage by an angle between 0° and 90° thus controlling the
amount of power dissipated in the load.
The angle at which the SCR fires (starts conducting) is called firing angle. The angle
between the start and end of conduction is called the conduction angle.
Equipment and Materials
Resistors: One 100 Ω ¼ W; one 25 KΩ variable resistor (trimpot)
Capacitor: One 0.22µF
One SCR 2N6396 or equivalent 12A, 200 V
One diode 1N4004 or equivalent
One 12V incandescent mini lamp
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Procedure.
1. Connect the circuit shown in the following schematic. Use the 12V incandescent mini
lamp instead of the 470 Ω load resistor.
2. Set the 25 kΩ potentiometer to approximately 2 kΩ. The oscilloscope should be set
as follows:
Channel 1: 10 V/div, DC coupling (Voltage across the load)
Channel 2: 10 V/div, DC coupling (Voltage across the SCR; Anode-Cathode)
Time base: 5 ms/div.
3. Apply power to the breadboard. On Channel 1 and 2 you should see approximately
three cycles of the voltage across the incandescent mini lamp and the cathode-anole
voltage. Note that the Channel 2 (voltage across the SCR) is displayed inverted from
what you would normally expect to see.
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4. Graph the waveforms observed in the oscilloscope.
This is the output wave when the led light is bright.
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This is the output wave when the led light is dim.
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5. Change the oscilloscope time base to 1 ms/div. By varying the potentiometer setting
(increasing the value) observe the variation in the conduction angle of the SCR.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. For the circuit in step 1, once the SCR conducts, the way to turn OFF the SCR is to:
a) reverse bias the gate
b) forward bias the gate
c) remove, or ground, the anode voltage
b) ground the gate lead
2. As the SCR conduction angle is increased from 90° to 180° in the circuit of step 1,
the power dissipated by the load resistor
a) decreases b) increases
b) remains the same
3. When an SCR is connected into an AC circuit, is the output voltage AC or DC?
Output voltage will be DC after connecting SCR into an AC circuit because the SCR
blocks part of the AC cycle and only allows positive half-cycles to pass when it is
triggered.
4. Can an electrolytic capacitor (polarized capacitor) be used on the gate of the circuit
in step 1 (0.22 µF capacitor)? Explain why.
No, as the gate voltage is AC and reverses polarity, a polarized capacitor cannot be
used. Because they are designed for DC, electrolytic capacitors can be damaged by
AC signals.
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Conclusions.
In this lab, I was able to successfully control the power supplied to a lamp by varying the
firing angle using an SCR. The SCR took longer to conduct in each AC cycle as the
potentiometer resistance rose, which decreased the lamp's brightness. Using this
technique to manage motor speed or dim lights is quite helpful. The oscilloscope made
the waveform's shift and the conduction delay quite evident. We also discovered that
the SCR firing may be controlled by shifting the phase using a capacitor and
potentiometer.
Rubric-Grading:
Criteria Max. Grade
Materials, Tools and Equipment Set-up 1.5
Following Procedure 2
Data Collection and Analysis 2
Evaluation of Experiment, Review Questions 2
Conclusion 1.5
Spelling, Grammar, Sentence Structure 1
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